As the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) promises large-scale financial support for the broadcasting and video content industry, issues such as unpaid copyright fees by domestic OTT platforms and insufficient protection of creators' rights remain unresolved, raising concerns about the fair distribution of government support and the sustainability of the industry ecosystem.
According to the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA, President Chuga Yeol), major domestic OTT operators such as Tving, Wavve, Watcha, and U+ Mobile TV have yet to pay music copyright fees even once. They have rejected the collection regulations approved by the MCST and lost in the administrative lawsuits they filed, yet they still have not paid the music copyright fees.
KOMCA estimates that the copyright fees unpaid by these operators over the past decade amount to approximately 100 billion won, and they have also refused to submit basic data for calculating usage fees, thus ignoring even the minimum obligations set forth in copyright law.
In this situation, last month, the MCST announced that it would implement 1 trillion won in financial support and 70 billion won in production support to promote domestic OTT production. However, domestic OTT operators, who are receiving such extensive policy and financial benefits, are holding out without paying the copyright fees that should go to creators, the core element of content, while not hesitating to invest in increasing their market share.
A KOMCA official stated, “Providing support funds to operators who are far from mutual growth gives creators, who are not receiving even minimal institutional protection, a sense of relative deprivation,” and argued, “Government support should only go to operators who value creation and contribute to a virtuous cycle in the content industry.”
The copyright fee collection rate for domestic OTT platforms is much lower than the global average (2.5%), at around 1%, but operators claim even this is excessive and refuse to pay. As a result, many musicians are receiving treatment below the minimum wage, but the government's lack of management and oversight to correct this situation, along with support policies focused solely on operators, is exacerbating the problem.
Former MCST secretary Noh Han-dong pointed out in his book "The Lie of Working for the Country" that the MCST is neglecting its fundamental role of protecting creators. Unlike other departments that can support platforms and media industries, the protection of creators' rights can only be handled by the MCST, and it is failing to perform this role properly.
While government support is necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the broadcasting and video content industry, focusing on short-term growth while ignoring creators only undermines the sustainability of the entire industry. Normalizing copyright fees and protecting creators is the way to secure the global competitiveness of K-content.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
